“Have you no mercy?” Willow asked him.
“None. Do you surrender?”
“Never! France shall never concede,” Willow declared as she moved her pawn forward.
“Then suffer the consequences,” Angel replied as he finished the game a victor. “Checkmate.”
Willow looked at him and smiled. “That would be four for you and…”
“None for you,” Angel replied with a smug look on his face.
“It isn’t fair you know,” she pouted.
“And why wouldn’t it be?”
“Because you have had 200 years to perfect your game. I only started last year.”
Angel wouldn’t help but smile. “I knew there was an upside to eternity.”
“That and fashion trades. I would love to have seen you during the 60’s.”
“Let’s just say multi colored shirts and bell bottoms were not my style.”
Willow giggled as she imaged him with longer hair, a bandanna and a peace sign around his neck. “Then I take it you weren’t into the 70’s?”
“That had to be a nightmare of some kind. I enjoyed the swinger times.”
“Ohhhh…I’ve always wanted to learn how to swing,” Willow told him excited.
“I’ll teach you some time if you like.”
“You know how to dance?” she asked in complete surprise.
“Which one - the East Coast or West Coast swing?”
“Wow…I never really thought…you know…”
“There’s a lot of things that no one knows about me. I’ve lived a long time.”
Willow smiled, becoming more and more fascinated by the mysterious man that had saved her life countless times. “When do we start?” she asked thrilled.
Before Angel could answer, Nicolas began to cry. They both stood up and went see what had happened.
“I think he’s hungry,” Angel told her.
“I’ll get the bottle.”
A minute later, Angel was feeding Nicolas on the couch
* * * * * * * * * * *
Angel left to make a quick sweep of the cemetery, leaving Willow and Nicolas alone.
Willow took a quick inventory of her books and clothes and went exploring the rest of the warehouse. She took Nicolas in her arms and went up the second pair of stairs heading to the third floor. She was immediately surrounded by darkness and headed to where the moonlight offered some light. To her complete surprise she did not find a window, but sliding glass doors. She flicked open the lock and pulled the doors apart, stepping into what looked like a garden. She stepped deeper inside, enjoying the deep cool air. She walked down a corridor full of flowers and plants hanging on either side of her as well as above her. To the end of the corridor, she found an open platform, with a table in the middle with tulips, roses, carnations, and lily’s all around. The view was nice, but with a building next to it, made it limited.
Nicolas began to giggle as a breeze picked up and began to play with Willow’s hair. She looked around her, feeling something around them. She peered through the darkness to find only the night. A cold wind swept by them, chilling her to the bone. Nicolas’ giggles stopped and remained quite in her arms.
Willow could sense something close and headed back to the doors, but before she could make it, she saw them close. She frantically tried to pull them apart, but found them locked. She turned around, holding Nicolas closer to her body, and began to chant the words that she knew would protect them. She was brought out of concentration by the sound of a snarling growl. She quickened her words, glad to see a soft blue glow surround them.
“Give me the child,” a menacing voice called out to her in the wind.
“No!”
“Give me the child,” it repeated, sounding deadlier.
“The child must die.”
“No, I won’t let you.”
“Spare yourself, give me the child.”
“Never. I won’t let him go.”
“Then you shall die as well.”
Willow looked around frantically trying to look for the source of the voice, but found no one. The voice quieted as she waited nervously for the monster to appear. Her only thoughts surrounded on the one person she hoped would come soon.
“Angel”
* * * * * * * * * * *
Angel walked down the usual path he took to the cemetery in a bit in a hurry. He didn’t want to leave Nicolas or Willow alone too long. Unknowingly, he immersed himself in his thoughts, still not able to believe what was happening or why Willow was willing to help him out so much.
He was finally getting a change to know Willow Rosenburg. He berated himself for not thinking much of her before, unable to see beyond the witch, the researcher, and more importantly, Buffy and Xander’s friend, because now she was becoming his. His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the sounds of scuffle. He moved quicker, passing through the tress and finally reaching the battle, finding Faith staking a vampire. The brunette looked up, sensing another one around. She put down the stake as soon as she noticed who it was.
“Late for the fun,” she commented.
“It didn’t look like you were having any trouble.”
“Been a quite night, boring actually,” she told him a bit disappointed.
“That should be good.”
“Yeah, but a little more couldn’t have hurt,” she replied with a smile.
As if upon her wishes, seven vampires jumped from the tress and began to attack the duo.
“This is more like it,” Faith yelled, making Angel roll his eyes.
The attack began, four attacking Angel as the other three went after Faith. Angel soon dusted one, but abruptly stopped his attack, feeling a dreadful fear wash over him. The vampires took the advantage and jumped on him, delivering punches to his head, stomach and chest. After a moment of reflection, Angel re-grouped, finding an inner hidden dosage of energy and began fighting, dusting one of the vamps quickly as he began to struggle with the other two.
Something was wrong, he would feel it. With a deep desire of going to his family, Angel quickly dusted both vampires and left, never looking back as Faith yelled her thanks for his help.
He ran across houses, streets, and yards, taking every possible short cut he would think of that could get him to the house faster. Once he reached the warehouse, he took a secret passageway inside, sensing the danger closer with each step. He slipped his “game face” firmly into place, using all his senses to find them. He was amazed at how quickly he detected them, and ran up the stairs, two at a time, up to the third floor.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Willow sensed the creature near, but not close enough to hurt them. It hid in the darkness of the sky, feeling it around her, but not on the ground. She held Nicolas closer to her body, trying to shield him better. She stayed close to the glass door, hoping it would open.
“Are you willing to give your life for someone that you do not even know?” it hissed at her.
“Yes. I’ll protect him.”
“Not even you, witch, will stop me. I shall find a way,” it said angered.
Willow remained quiet, processing its words. To her relief she heard the door opening and turned to see a vamped out Angel growling at the unseen threat. He automatically pulled her inside, placing her behind him.
“This is far from over Demon. I shall have the child.”
Before Angel would reply, the danger was gone. The source had disappeared. He carefully stepped outside; making sure everything was fine. He turned to see Willow shaken, tears in her eyes. His mask fell back into place, his arms reaching for her.
“I’m sorry…I never should have come out here…I didn’t….”
“Sshh…This isn’t your fault, Willow.”
“But…Nicolas…it could have….”
“But it didn’t. You’re both safe, that’s what matters,” he said softly as one hand stroked her hair and the other touched Nicolas’ covered head.
“But if it wasn’t for me this never would have….”
“No. This could have happened to me, too. It didn’t take him, now all we have to know is why.”
“I think it was the spell. It needs to be invited in, that would explain why it didn’t take us when it would.”
“Then see, you saved him.”
“Angel…it knows I’m a witch. It told me,” she said a bit frightened.
“It also knows I’m a demon. We have to find it what ‘it’ is and how it knows us. Now at least we know Nicolas is safe in the house.”
“It wants to kill him, Angel. It wants Nicolas to die,” she told him as a tear began to fall.
Angel’s hand trailed down to her face and wiped away the tear with his thumb. “It won’t. I’ll protect him, I’ll protect you both.”
“So will I, Angel.” Willow added.
They both looked down at the baby and smiled as it seemed to agree with a soft glee of slurred words. Angel turned Willow around and with one arm firmly around her shoulders, led her back inside. He locked the door in back of them and led her to the bedroom.
After a quick check around the apartment and outside, Angel returned to the bedroom with Nicolas and Willow already under the covers. He quickly joined them, thanking Willow for everything she had done so far. She soon fell asleep, followed soon after by Nicolas.
Angel remained awake, looking at them in there slumber. It had been close. He had almost lost the two more important people in his life. It would never happen again. He silently vowed to protect his family against all, no matter the price.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Willow was the first to wake a little after dawn. After a quick shower and some light breakfast she was ready for school. She made sure her cell phone was charged and went to look over at the two men in her life. She smiled as she looked at how peaceful they looked in their sleep. She moved over to her side of the bed and placed a kiss on Nicolas’ cheek then moved over to Angel’s side. She was hesitant to wake him, but knew she had to. Her hand found his shoulder and began to shake him a bit. Her hand soon moved up to cup his cheek as she saw how he awoke in a rush to shake off the veil of fogginess.
“Angel, it’s okay. It’s me, Willow. I just wanted to tell you I’m heading to school.”
Angel focused his eyes on her smile and nodded his head in agreement to what she had just told him.
“I’ll call you by lunch. If you need me, call, I’ll have the phone on.”
With another nod from his head, her hand reluctantly left his face and saw Angel roll over to his side, spooning himself around the baby, protecting him.
Willow left the apartment, prioritizing. She would talk to Giles this morning, hoping he could give her more insight on the creature that had tried to attack them last night, but first she needed to get her story straight and hoped it sounded truthful.
* * * * * * * * * * *
Willow opened the door to her house and felt a cold chill run down her spine. It looked so dark and quite. She entered, the light from the windows enough to see around her. She headed up to her room and took a book she had forgotten when she had packed to go over to Angel’s. After a quick check around her house, she was content to see everything was fine, not needing her as she usually felt.
She was about ready to leave, when she saw the small red light flashing on her answering machine. She sat down on the couch next to it, wondering who could have called. She clicked on the button and waited for the recording to fill the room.
“Hey, Willow, it’s Oz. I wish you were there instead of me having to leave a message for you, but it might be easier this way. I won’t be coming back this week, the band did pretty well on tour and we’ve been invited to play some more out here and since break is coming up, I really don’t think they’ll be a problem with school or anything. Um…maybe I should call back to tell you, hopefully catch you. I’ll call you back.”
Willow remained seated; knowing what would come next, the second message came through, Oz’s voice once more filling the room.
“Damn, I wish I would have caught you. Okay, well, Willow I think we need some time apart. I’ve had a lot of time to think and I’m not sure where this relationship is going and I think a bit of time apart will help define it. You have to admit, the past couple of months have been…unsteady…I’m either touring or you’re researching and studying. I think this might be best. I’m sorry.”
Willow remained seated with tears in her eyes. She’d just been dumped by the only boy that had ever paid much attention to her. As much as she knew it would hurt, she didn’t expect it to hurt her this little. Maybe it was something she had expected for some time, hell, they hadn’t even had smoochies for the past three weeks. Not that she missed them much, but they never did hurt.
She looked back down at the book on her lap and wiped the tears away.
* * * * * * * * * *
“Willow!”
Willow turned to see Buffy running down the hall with an ecstatic smile on her face.
“Willow, you’ll never believe it,” Buffy said as she finally got to Willow’s locker.
“What?” she asked, trying to sound excited.
“My dad and mom are going to be spending the holidays together with me!”
“Wow, how did that happen?”
“Well, my mom came with me to see my dad since she didn’t want to miss my birthday and we spent a lot of time together and one thing led to another, then one morning I woke up to see my mom wearing my dad’s shirt like she used to. Don’t get me wrong. The thought of my mom getting some still gives me the wiggin’s, but it’s the good kind.”
“Then they’re back together?”
“Sort of, but my dad thought it would be a great idea if we all went to Hawaii for the two weeks I have for break and we jumped at the chance.”
“Then your mom and dad might get back together, wow, Buffy. I’m so happy for you.”
“I can’t wait. Two whole weeks without having to worry about vampires, demons, end of the world prophecy’s. I have to go buy a bathing suit, some nice outfits. We have to go to the mall tonight, maybe Giles will be nice and give us one night off.”
“Sure, the mall all night.”
“Good, I have to go and report in with Giles, see you in class.”
Buffy left, leaving Willow alone at her locker.
To her hope, no one asked her about her weekend, or seemed to notice she was not living at home, or seemed to notice her somber behavior. Xander told her of the fun he had in San Francisco, that was when ever Cordelia left him alone. It seemed no one was interested in what she had done over her weekend in Sunnydale. The school day was soon over and after a bit of arguing, the small group had convinced Giles to let them go out for the night. Cordelia, Xander, and Buffy spoke about their respective trips and what they would need to buy, leaving Willow much out of the conversation as well as the shopping venture. For the first time in a long time, Willow felt left out. After an hour into the venture, she went on her own way, looking for presents, remembering the small bit of information she had taken about Angel.
She passed by the toy stores and looked at what Nicolas might like. It was in one of those ventures that Willow saw a familiar face and went to greet them.
“Fancy meeting you here,” she said in back of them.
The baby giggled, as Angel turned with a smile and greeted her.
“Thought you were out with your friends.”
“I was, but I ended up losing them.”
“Is everything all right?” he asked as she took a better look at her.
“I’m okay, just a bit tired I guess.”
“Did you want to go home?” he asked concerned.
The thought brought a smile to her face. “I’d like that, but not until I see what are in those bags,” she teased.
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
Willow shook her head, trying to hide the bags in back of her.
“Then I can’t show you mine.”
“Fine, be a meanie.”
Angel gave her the worst fake hurt look she had ever seen making her laugh. His expression changed traumatically as he looked up briefly then back to her eyes.
“I’ll meet you downstairs at entrance C in five minutes,” he told her.
She took a quick glance in back of her and was about to reply, but he was gone. She walked over to her friends, who seemed surprised to see her.
“Hey Will, where did you go and hide?”
“No where, just went shopping a bit. I have to get going…”
“But we’ve only been here three hours,” Cordelia complained.
“Have to study. I haven’t been sleeping to good either.”
“Okay, we’ll I guess I can walk you home,” Buffy said a bit disappointed.
“Actually, my mom’s friend is here and she can drive me back to her house since there’s where I’m staying.”
“Great, thank her for us,” Cordelia said as she took a hold of Buffy and Xander and pulled them back into the stream of people still shopping.
After a ‘see you tomorrow’ and ‘bye’, Willow left to meet Angel in the lower section of the mall.
Angel noticed the change in her demeanor, but did not ask, instead tried to change her mood. After a quick stop at a cafe to get a mocha for her, the couple went to their apartment.
By the time she arrived at the apartment, Willow felt better and told Angel about Buffy, Xander, and Cordelia’s plans for break, as well as the phone message she had received at home from Oz. After a bit of crying, he carried her off to bed, where Nicolas snuggled in-between them happily content and asleep.
* * * * * * * * * * *
“What do you mean Oz wants ‘space’?” Buffy asked surprised.
“He left me a message last night on my answering machine at home. He said he wanted us to slow down, that we needed space,” she replied.
“God, Will, I’m sorry. Had I known I would have…..”
“You would have what?” she asked curious.
“I don’t know, had you kick some vampire butt or something. Are you okay?”
“I thought it would have hurt a bit more, but it really hasn’t. We’d been drifting. It was a matter of time,” she told her sadly.
“Geez, Will, why didn’t you say anything?”
“I guess if I ignored it, then it really wouldn’t happen.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll find someone who appreciates you. Someone that will worship you.”
“I know…I’ll be fine…”
“You will. We have to research tonight, but maybe we can out and so some bronzing tonight, or maybe after we go shopping tomorrow night. Cordy and I have to finish shopping for our trips.”
“Sure, that sounds like fun”, she replied, trying to sound happy.
The rest of the week went by quickly. Willow went to school, listened patiently her friends as Buffy talked about her impending trip to Hawaii and how her parents seemed to be getting closer everyday. To Xander who spoke about how incredible Cordelia was, how wonderful it was to have spent the weekend with her in San Francisco and how great it would be to be spending two whole weeks with her in Aspen. Cordelia really only spoke to her when it was needed or for a casual comment. Her evenings were spent between two places. The mall with the gang or with Angel and the baby. It always brought a smile to her face when Angel and Nico waited for her by the mall to escort her home. In the afternoon she had started calling them from her cell during lunch. She never realized just how much she looked forward to the night time and her lunch.
She had tried to ask Giles in a round about way if there was a new demon in town or if he had found a new prophecy or if he had heard or seen something out of the ordinary. Giles never suspected something was wrong, believing her new found need to research stemmed from the void her friends were leaving. Though that void did exist, it was quickly being filled by the two new men in her life.
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Are you sure?” Willow asked him.
“Willow, go. Have fun,” Angel told her as he changed Nicolas’ diaper.
“But…”
“It’s just a program, Willow. I’m sure they’ll pass it this week again. I can’t see why they wouldn’t.”
“It was just so last minute and….”
“I want you to go. I want you to have fun. I know that spending all this time with me and Nicolas wouldn’t have been…”
“Don’t you dare say it, Angel. I’ve all ready told you, I enjoy staying here. I do have fun here…”
“Okay, but you need to spend time with your friends. You won’t get to see them for two weeks.”
“I know, but…I’m sure they wouldn’t notice if I was there of not.”
“They would, Will. We can plan tonight another night.”
Willow knew she was defeated. Angel had that look on his face that was the equivalent of her ‘resolve face’.
She nodded and gave him a small smile.
An hour later she was at the Bronze, sitting down at a table alone, looking on as Cordelia and Xander danced and Buffy flirted with someone she met at the pool table.
Gifts were not exchanged, wanting to wait until they returned from there trips. They looked like they were having fun, something Willow was not. She looked around club and saw everyone enjoying themselves, laughing, joking, and smiling. She felt like an outsider again.
Something wasn’t right. Her mind began to block out the voices around her.
What am I doing here?
She wondered as she took one final look at Buffy, Xander and Cordelia now dancing in front of her. She smiled as she stood up and headed toward the exit.
* * * * * * * * * * *
“You need a bath,” Angel told the smiling baby on the bed. He pulled the towel over his shoulder and took the giggling baby in his arms. He got as far as the hallway before he saw her coming up the stairs.
“I thought you were going to the Bronze,” he said, happy to see her home so soon.
“I did,” she replied as she took off her jacket and put it on the bed.
“But?…”
“It was crowded and loud and I had a headache. So we hung out a bit, decided to exchange gifts when they returned and then we played pool, then I left.”
“That was quick. You weren’t even out two hours.”
“I had a really bad headache.”
“How’s your head now?” he asked curious as he entered the bathroom.
“Better,” she replied as she pulled up the sleeves from her sweater.
“I’m glad. So did you have fun?”
“A bit.”
Angel placed the talkative baby in the tub and was glad to feel Willow’s hand cover his around the baby’s waist.
“Your turn to shampoo,” she reminded him with a smile.
After half an hour of bathing and clothing him, they were ready to restart the plans they had prepared earlier that night. Willow changed into her pair of comfy flannel pants and cotton oversized gray shirt and headed downstairs with Nicolas to pop some popcorn as Angel changed into his sweatpants and white v-neck T-shirt.
Nicolas and Angel looked on as Willow spread an array of junkfood on the center table then settled on the sofa, snuggling next to him, her head settling on his shoulder as his arm stretched across the sofa. Nicolas was happily seated in Angel’s lap, chewing on his teething ring.
Willow changed the channel and squealed in excitement as the “Muppet’s Christmas Carol” began. Though she was half-Jewish, she was also half-Catholic (mother’s side). Her parent’s had agreed some time ago to let Willow decide what she chose to be, while her parent’s remained neutral and celebrated neither.
Knowing Angel was Catholic helped her decided what she would do this year. The couple smiled as the movie began, looking forward to the evening ahead.
* * * * * * * * * * *
It had taken the small group of friends nearly four hours to realize there friend was gone. Once they got to her house and found it empty, Xander went to his and grabbed the emergency key Willow had given him sometime ago. They were surprised to see the whole house dark and empty. It was after some intensive thinking that they figured out what to do.
Willow received a call on her cell in the middle of “It’s a Wonderful Life.” After the fourth ring she had managed to find her bookbag and find her phone.
“Hello?”
“Willow?”
“Yes?”
“What happened to you? We’ve been looking for you? You just left.”
“Xander, I left the Bronze more then five hours ago.”
“Oh…but you didn’t tell us.”
Willow excused herself from the sofa and went to the far side of the room.
“All of you seemed too busy,” she informed him.
“Not for you…”
“That’s why you’re calling me at two in the morning?”
“Wow, two! Haven’t really seen the clock.”
“Was there something you needed?” Willow asked a bit sad.
“We just wanted to know you were safe, you aren’t at home…where are you, Willow?”
Willow could feel tears the tears in her eyes.
“I told you guys I was staying at one of my mom’s friends house until they come back.”
“Oh yeah, must have forgotten. Then I’ll let you go back to bed. See you when we get back,” Xander told her cheerfully.
Before Willow could say anything, the line went dead. She took a moment to regroup and headed back to the sofa, taking her seat next to Angel on the sofa.
Angel looked down at her, noticing her change in mood. She didn’t know, but he had heard some of the conversation, had heard her muffle a sob a moment ago. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah…they just wanted to…say bye and wish me a good vacation,” she lied.
Angel remained silent, looking at her, then at the movie on the T.V, vowing silently to make these two weeks the best in Willow life.
* * * * * * * * * * *
“Sorry,” Willow muttered once again.
“Don’t worry, you really can’t hurt me,” he replied, making her chuckle.
She looked up at him and smiled.
“Let’s try it once more,” he said as he stepped back then to the side.
Willow followed, her hands glued to his shoulder and hand.
“See, all you need is practice,” he encouraged her.
After toes that Angel was grateful would heal in a bit of time, he continued showing her the basic steps of the west coast swing. Nicolas looked on attentively from his playpen, giggling when he saw his parents laugh or step on each other. After two hours of practicing, the sun had set and with only a few days left ‘till Christmas, they decided to suspend the lesson and head to the mall. After two showers and a complete change of diapers and bottles and clothes for Nicolas, the happy couple left the house.
They shopped, separating only twice, needing to purchase items separately. After a couple of hours of walking, talking and about ten shopping bags, they decided to call it a night. As they walked down the pathway to the main level, they were too engrossed in their conversation to notice the couple ahead of them that were preoccupied with each other as well. That was until Nicolas’ stroller bumped into the couples feet, making them all stop and look at each other in complete shock.
“Willow?”
“Faith?”
“Angel?”
“Giles?”
* * * * * * * * * * *
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